Addis Ababa Ethiopia, September 2020  - UN-Habitat provided gloves, T-shirts, masks and brooms to community members in three Ethiopian cities who took part in World Cleanup Day.

At the same time the Addis Ababa municipality presented UN-Habitat with an award for the agency’s work in keeping the capital clean.

The deputy mayor of Addis Ababa, Adaneche Abebie, presented the award to Aklilu Fikreselassie, the UN-Habitat Ethiopia country program stating:  “We would like to present this special award to UN-Habitat office for their exclusive efforts and active co-operation with the city to ensure that the city of Addis Ababa stays clean.”

UN-Habitat led the coordinated city cleaning activities in Addis Ababa, Hawassa and Bahir Dar cities during the 2020 World Cleanup Day which included street cleaning, school disinfecting and drainage cleaning.

The Deputy Mayor of Addis Ababa, the Head of the Mayor's office of Hawassa Zerihun Samuel and the Deputy Mayor of Bahir Dar City, Amare Alemu, alongside other local leaders led the cleaning initiatives alongside thousands of community members.

 “We are pleased to have the community members turn out in large numbers, together with their leaders to take part in this global cleaning exercise. Solid waste management is one of the areas that UN-Habitat is focusing on in Ethiopia and would therefore urge each of you to be responsible for your own waste by disposing of it responsibly,” said Mr. Fikresillassie.

The rubbish collected was burnt or taken to the nearest neighbourhood waste collection centre. In Addis Ababa it was transported to Koshe landfill, the largest dumpsite in Ethiopia which has been rehabilitated by UN-Habitat with financial support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the Government of Japan and the United Kingdom’s Department For International Development.

In Ethiopia, UN- Habitat is engaged in Urban and Regional planning, Solid Waste management and Public Space management.